Rosa rugosa
Origin: East Asia
Improvement status: Cultivar
Seeds per packet: ~20
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
Rugosa rose is a beautiful East Asian species that has been a popular ornamental and erosion control plant in the United States since the 1800s. We love it because it's a super hardy, resilient perennial edible! The large fruits or hips (sometimes called "beach tomatoes") are most widely consumed, turned into jam, jelly, fruit leather, wine, or eaten raw, while the perfectly fragrant flowers also make a delicious jam or jelly. It flowers and fruits over a very long season, from early summer through frost, which contributes mightily to us ornamental and culinary value. It is very cold tolerant, thriving from USDA Zone 9 all the way north to Zone 3. It prefers full sun, but tolerates a bit of shade. The bright green leaves (more visually prominent than in most roses) turn a brilliant yellow in the fall before falling off. The plant is highly resistant to salt spray, so it has become popular in large plantings along dunes and seawalls. EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman, who produced these seeds at his home in Elmer, NJ, fondly recalls snacking on rugosa rosehips as a child while walking along Bass Rocks in Gloucester, Mass., on vacations with his grandparents. A patch of Rosa rugosa is a welcome addition to most any landscape.
NOTE: This is the first time we are offering these seeds, and with a limited supply we are not conducting germination tests and so offer them here as botanical samples. Based on the literature, these seeds will germinate well after 45-60 days of cool moist stratification (such as in a bag of damp peat or sand in the refridgerator). Some seeds will be dormant, so may not germinate until after they've been in soil for a full year.
